Crow's Nest: Taking a closer look...

October 26, 2021

By Natural Lands

By Alison Joyce, Stewardship and Education Intern.

“Why are you taking a picture of that?” asked one of the kids during a Friday afternoon Nature Club.

I laughed understanding his curiosity; I must have looked silly. I was crouched on the ground behind a patch of juniper moss (Polytrichum juniperinum), shuffling oak and sassafras leaves out of the way, inching centimeters right and left until I had just the right sunlight…and the subject of my photo was an unrecognizable small, green splotch that most of the children had already stepped on without noticing.

“Well,” I answered with the satisfaction of a person who has just been asked the question that they were hoping someone else would ask, “because when I take a zoomed-in photo of this moss, it looks like this!”

Moss resembling a small Christmas tree with sunbeam in background

Photo: Alison Joyce

Delighting my heart, not only did that child say, “Woah, cool!” but also a few other kids crowded around the camera to look at the picture. Photography is a hobby that I love to share and children make an excellent audience; not only because their excitement is a joy, but also because it gives them a window into the small worlds that they may not be able to see with their eyes unaided.

Red-backed salamander body and tail with face hidden beneath brown oak leaves and pine needles

Photo: Alison Joyce

Another moment of wonder and awe occurred previously in the week when our teen helper found a tiny snail shell in the grass. The shell was about the size of a period in this blog post, so the kids and I were unable to get a good look at the intricate design. Fortunately, the camp camera has an amazing “microscope” setting which allows for a hyper-zoom. We took a picture and showed it to the kids.

Tan snail shell with serial patter rests on rock

Photo: Alison Joyce

Eyes darted back and forth from what appeared to be a speck of peach-colored dirt to the naked eye, but what was clearly a beautifully designed snail shell once viewed with a better zoom.

There is no replacement for climbing a tree, getting muddy, or splashing around in the creek. But in addition to those activities, try taking your child (or yourself!) on a “Photo Hunt”. You don’t need a fancy or expensive camera or the latest smartphone to take a dazzling picture. Some of these were taken with the little ten-year-old point-and-shoot camera that I “borrowed” from my sister. The others were taken with the Crow’s Nest camp camera (a slightly newer, more water resistant, point-and-shoot camera).